European stocks drifted, with investors reluctant to make any bold moves after Moody's downgraded the sovereign ratings of six euro-zone countries and as doubts about the implementation of Greek austerity measures crept in.

So far "Triple Threat Thursday" has been a dud. In the day with the greatest concentration of market-moving risk events so far in 2017, market action - at least for the time being - has been a whimper, with European stocks and US futures modestly higher ahead of the ECB’s rate decision and Comey's testimony (which has now been fully publicized, removing much of the risk), as the U.K. voting is underway. Asian stocks fell led by a decline in Japan as the yen first strengthened, only to tumble later in the session.

A quiet start to today's quad-witching St. Patrick's day, with European stocks mixed, Asian shares and U.S. index futures (-0.1%) little changed ahead of industrial production data with just Tiffany's set to report earnings.

As extensively reported over the past two days, this weekend's "last chance" Greek negotiations reached a roadblock after talks broke down after just 45 minutes. Creditors deemed the renewed reform proposals from Greece as inadequate as the troubled nation stands firm that they will not budge on pension cuts or VAT increases ahead of the June 18th European finance minister meeting.

World stocks stayed near peaks and currencies moved in tight ranges on Wednesday as China’s 19th Communist Party Congress opened while focus in Europe turned to speeches from top euro zone central bankers before next week’s key policy meeting, as well as Catalonia's ultimatum due on Thursday. S&P futures are solidly in the green as usual, with Dow futures jumping above 23,000, driven higher by IBM as investors looked for new reasons to extend gains after hitting new all-time highs Tuesday.

On the day voting for the UK referendum finally began, what started off as a trading session with a modest upward bias, promptly turned into a buying orgy in painfully illiquid markets shortly after Europe opened as an influx of buy orders pushed European stocks 2% higher, propelled by cable which was above 1.49 for the first time since December and USDJPY climbing over 1.05 in sympathy, following the release of the final Ipsos Mori poll which showed Remain at 52% to 48% for leave.

By Efficient Alpha:
By Emil Emilov
A major event in the financial world happened last week. European leaders agreed on a plan to support the sovereign debt of the struggling continent. The meeting's decisions provided some positive news flow for the markets which contributed to their upward momentum. Risky asset classes including equities, commodities and currencies, advanced sharply to finish the week with a significant gain.